I know there's already tons of these threads, but I was hoping to get some help. Never done extreme cooling before, and I want to give it a try. Only problem is that I, like most beginners, don't want to pay $200 or more for a nice pot. The der8aur SpecOps seemed perfect since it originally retailed for something like 80 Euros, but it's been discontinued, so I was hoping someone would happen to have one that they'd sell me used.

My other though has been making a pot myself, but finding the copper in the right measurements would prove to be difficult, and on top of that I don't have any machinery to shape it with, so anything I'd put together would be kinda sloppy and possibly ineffective.

Besides the pot, I can easily get all the other materials like insulating foam, tape, and the actual DICE at local stores, so naturally it's a bit of a let down to be stuck on just one part.

As far as making your own pot... It's gonna cost you way more than what a commercially available unit would run... Even if you consider the "Top End" pots like the Marksman and the F1EE (Both close to $300 in price)... Just sourcing the copper stock to machine your own will run you at least $160 for a 2" x 2" x 12" square rod... And then you have to account for design (CAD) and machining costs.

Your best bet is to search the classifieds here and at other sites for Koolance V2 pots being put up for sale. I've seen them sell for less than $100 a number of times. I have one of them and it works like a charm with DICE and "older" CPUs (think old C2D/C2Q Intel chips or Athlon/Phenom AMD chips). It will struggle to keep up with anything on X58 or FX.